Heddle-machine.



No. 746,951. PATENTED DEC. 15, 1903.

W."H. GIBBS. HEDDLE MACHINE.

APPLIOATIDN FILED APR. 29, 1903.

N0 MODEL.

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Fatented December 15, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM HIGIBBS, OF CLINTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

.HEDDLE-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 746,951, dated December15, 1903. Application filed April 29, 1903- Serial 1%. 154.780. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. GIBBS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Olin ton, in the county of Worcester andSt-ate ofMassachusetts, have invented a new and useful Heddle-Machine, of whichthe following is a specification.

This invention relates to a new and useful improvement upon theheddle'machine shown and described in United States Letters Patent No.626,900, granted to me June 13, 1899.

The especial object of this invention is to provide a construction whichwill dispense with the trimming or clipping mechanisms which haveheretofore been employed in my heddle-machines for cutting off the endsof the wire-blanks, which are bent back in forming the heddle-eyes, andto provide a construction which will automatically produce heddles,having the ends which are bent back to form the heddle-eyes laidaccurately into line with or superimposed upon the body portions.

To these ends this invention consists of novel clamping and twistingjaws, which are constructed to accurately control the ends which arebent back in forming the heddleeyes and to guide the same in accuratealinement with the body-portion wires of the heddles.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a perspective view showing thetwisting-jaws opened. Fig. 2 is asimilar view showing the twisting-jawsclosed and the wires clamped into accurate alinement thereby. Fig. 3 isa similar view of the parts after the twisting operation has beencompleted. Fig. 4 is a detail'view of one of the heddles manufactured ona machine embodying this improvement; and Fig. 5 is a sectional viewthereof, taken on the line 5 5 of Fig. 4.

In manufacturing heddles upon heddle-machines constructed according tomy prior United States patent, No. 626,900, before referred to, thespeed and efficiency of operation have been somewhat limited by thecutting or trimming devices-that is to say,-in order to produce the bestresults it has been necessary that the cutters or knives heretofore usedfor trimming the ends which are frequently sharpened and carefullyadjusted, so that in practice the trimming or cuttingoff devices werethe parts which required the most attention. In addition to this, theends being cut or trimmed obliquely, unless care was taken in tinning orsoldering the heddletwists, it sometimes happened that sharp projectingends would be formed. To overcome these objections in a heddle-machineembodying myimprovement,thetrimmingorend-clipping devices are entirelydispensed with and a form of heddle is produced in which the ends whichare bent back to form the heddleeyes are laid accurately into alinementwith the'body portion of the heddle, so that not only is one of the mostdifficult operations of the machine entirely avoided, but a superiorheddle is produced in which there can be no sharp projecting ends orother imperfections. These results are accomplished by constructing theclamping and twisting jaws so that they will guide the bent-back endsaccurately into place, said jaws being preferably provided withcomplementary surfaces forming a four-sided clamping-chamber of therequired dimensions to tightly compress and accurately position thebent-back ends upon the body portion of the heddles.

Referring to the accompanying drawings for a detail description of apair of twistingjaws for a heddle-machine embodying my invention, thesejaws comprise two com plementarysections or pieces. In the clamping-jawsillustrated in my previous invention the jaws were separated or dividedon a single divisional line. embodying my presentinvention the. lowerjaw preferably comprises two horizontal surfaces 10 and 11, which areseparated by a vertical guide edge 12. At its center the lower jaw isprovided with a slight depression 13 for receiving the double-strandedbody portion A of a heddle, and the face of the lower jaw is recessed at1a to receive a retainingtongue of the upper jaw. The upper jaw isprovided with a guideway 18 for the ends, which are bent back in theformation of heddle-eyes, with horizontals'urfaces 15 and 16,corresponding with thesurfaces 10 and 11,

.bent back .to form the heddle-eyes should-be In the improvedconstructionembodying my present improvement and as illustrated in Fig.4 comprises the central eye B, double-stranded body portions A, and endWhat I do claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates, is-

1. In a heddle-machine, the combination of two relatively movabletwisting-jaws, one of which has a guide edge for guiding the ends of theheddle-wires which are bent back to form heddle-eyes into line with thebody portions of the heddles.

2. In a heddle-machine, the combination of two separable twisting-jaws,the lower jaw eyes 0, which are formed by bending back--having'a recessor chamber for receiving the the ends of the body portion A, the extremeends D being laid accurately into alinement or superimposed on the bodyportions A, as illustrated in Fig. 5. In the operation of forming thisheddle the end D as it is bent back first passes down through the guide18. It then snaps under the tongue 19 to the position indicated inFig. 1. The twisting-dies are then closed, as illustrated in Fig. 2, sothat the four strands formed by the doublestranded body portion and thebent-back end are clamped in a four-sided chamber of exactly the rightsize to insure the alinement of the end D with the body portion, so thatafter the heddle is completed by rotating the twisting-jaws, asillustrated in Fig. 3, there will be no necessity of trimming or cuttingoff any projecting ends of wire.

I am aware that changes may be made in practicing my invention by thosewho are skilled in the art without departing from the scope thereof asexpressed in the claims. I do not wish, therefore, to be limited to theconstruction I have herein shownand described; but

thereof for guiding a heddle-wire end which is bent back to form aheddle-eye into line with the body portion, and the upper jaw having aninclined guideway for the end of the heddle-wire.

3. In a heddle-machine, the combination of two complementary separabletwisting-jaws, the lower jaw having a recess for receiving the doublestrands of wire of a heddle-body portion and a guide edge at one sidethereof, and the upper jaw having an inclined guideway and a tongue ofless thickness than said jaw, said parts cooperating to inclose all foursides of the heddle-body portion and the end which is bent back informing the heddle-eye.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

WM. H. GIBBS.

